Emi Caitlin Ishigooka is among first Peace Corps volunteers to be assigned to Cambodia

Ishigooka is one of 30 volunteers who will leave for Phnom Penh Jan. 31. After three months of training in Cambodia's capitol, the volunteers will disperse to rural areas. Like Ishigooka, they will teach English as a second language to high school-aged children. To prepare for her assignment, Ishigooka has been spending the last three weeks receiving Khmer language lessons from Nanh Toun. On a Wednesday afternoon, Ishigooka and Toun sit together in Toun's upstairs apartment on 17th Street near Poly High. On a couch beneath a picture of the Angkor Wat temple complex taped to the wall, Toun and Ishigooka work through the Khmer alphabet from a first-grade level book. Toun patiently guides Ishigooka through subtle sound variations in the Khmer language. Occasionally, he gives her phrases and tips for conversation that she jots down in a notebook.

Poly High grad is among first Peace Corps volunteers to be assigned to the nation.

By Greg Mellen, Staff writer

Article Launched: 01/24/2007 10:47:22 PM PST

Caption: Emi Caitlin Ishigooka of Long Beach takes Khmer language lessons from L.B. resident Nanh Toun on Wednesday. Ishigooka will be among the first Peace Corps volunteers working in Cambodia, where she will teach English. (Kevin Chang / Press-Telegram)

LONG BEACH - Since her freshman year at UCLA, Emi Caitlin Ishigooka had carried around an application she had found on campus for the Peace Corps.

For much longer, she had carried in her head the exotic stories of her mom, Bridget Dole, about the Peace Corps volunteers Dole had met in locales such as Palau, the Marshall Islands, Saipan, Truk and other Pacific islands in 1971.

Soon Ishigooka will have her own stories to tell.

The 23-year-old UCLA and Poly High graduate was chosen to be one of the inaugural group of Peace Corps volunteers assigned to Cambodia.

In a week, Ishigooka will depart San Francisco for learning and adventure in a faraway land.

Joking about her mother's influence, Ishigooka says, "She's kicking herself for it now.

"I tell her, `It's your fault, you filled me with all your stories."'

"Now that she's really going, I wished I'd kept my mouth shut," Dole says with a laugh. "I'm very proud and nervous. I'm probably more nervous for myself. I'm going to miss her so much."

Ishigooka is one of 30 volunteers who will leave for Phnom Penh Jan. 31. After three months of training in Cambodia's capitol, the volunteers will disperse to rural areas. Like Ishigooka, they will teach English as a second language to high school-aged children. For two years, Ishigooka will live with a host family and immerse herself in her job and the culture.

"Growing up in Long Beach and going to Poly I was exposed to so many cultures that it spurred my interest," Ishigooka says.

Giving of herself is nothing new to Ishigooka.

Ishigooka volunteered with the Red Cross after Hurricane Katrina and was stationed in Galveston, Texas, shortly after Hurricane Rita struck.

Ishigooka has also volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, was the chair for philanthropy at her sorority at UCLA and volunteered at Community Hospital in Long Beach.

To prepare for her assignment, Ishigooka has been spending the last three weeks receiving Khmer language lessons from Nanh Toun.

On a Wednesday afternoon, Ishigooka and Toun sit together in Toun's upstairs apartment on 17th Street near Poly High. On a couch beneath a picture of the Angkor Wat temple complex taped to the wall, Toun and Ishigooka work through the Khmer alphabet from a first-grade level book.

Toun patiently guides Ishigooka through subtle sound variations in the Khmer language. Occasionally, he gives her phrases and tips for conversation that she jots down in a notebook.

Toun's daughter, Nancy, was a first-grade student of Dole's at Jackie Robinson Academy, a foreign-language intensive school. Now the elder Toun is getting a chance to return the favor.

Toun says when he was in refugee camps in Thailand, he taught Khmer to orphans.

Like so many Cambodians, he bears the scars of the civil war and subsequent Khmer Rouge genocide. In Toun's case, the scars are literal. He was struck in the head by shrapnel while attending high school in 1974 and is disabled by partial paralysis on the left side of his body.

"I think she will do well," Toun says of Ishigooka. "A lot of people will be very happy. They want to learn English from Americans."

Toun also says he expects Ishigooka to learn much about the world from her assignment.

Dole agrees.

"It broadens your view of the world any time you travel," Dole says, "especially when you go to a developing country."

In joining the Peace Corps, Ishigooka is among a growing number of younger adults who are signing up for volunteer organizations nationally.

According to the Peace Corps, which was established in 1961 to counter growing Chinese and Soviet influence in developing countries, applications last year were at a 30-year high. Surprisingly, 2007 is the first year the Peace Corps is sending volunteers to Cambodia.

Although the Cambodian government and Peace Corps reached an agreement in 1994, fears of perceived political instability and a shortage of funds kept projects on hold until now.

Although in its early years, Peace Corps volunteers were most likely to work in fields and provide basic technological help to build communities, today 43 percent of volunteers teach, while only 6 percent are involved in agrarian work.

The focus of the Cambodian-Peace Corps project will be the teaching of English. In Cambodia, where illiteracy is widespread, especially in the wake of the slaughter of intellectuals by the Khmer Rouge, English is considered a key to gaining employment in tourism and other industries.

But the social component of the Peace Corps remains strong.

"It's expected that you'll work in community development," Ishigooka said. "Once we get adjusted, we assess the needs of the community. Basically, that's a major component."

Because she is among the first generation of volunteers in the country, Ishigooka says: "I guess I get to be a trailblazer. I don't have to fill a mold.

"On the other hand (the villagers) may not know exactly why I'm there. I guess I'll have to create my own role."

After her stint, Ishigooka said she may return to school to study either public policy or international development.

But, she adds: "It's hard to see in the future when this could lead down so many paths."

One person already planning to beat a path to her daughter's door is Dole.

"I'm hoping to go visit next December," Dole says. "We may have Christmas in Cambodia."

Greg Mellen can be reached at greg.mellen@presstelegram.com or (562) 499-1291.

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Story Source: Long Beach Press-Telegram

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